Method for handling furnace flue dust



July 23, 1935. L, C, EDGAR ETAL v2,009,25

METHOD FOR HANDLING FURNACE FLUE DUST 0, aff/C7.

Juy 23, w35. i.. c. EDGAR Er A1.

METHOD FOR HANDLING FURNACE FLUE DUST Filed June 3o, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR5 july 23, 1935. C. EDGAR ET AL 2,009,251

METHOD FOR HANDLING FURNACE FLUE DUST Filed June 30, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented July 23, 1935 FLUE DUST f Louis C. Edgar, Swissvale, and Edgar E. Brosius, P1ttsburgh,.Pa.; said Edgar assigner to said Brosius Application June 30, 1931, Serial `No. 547,894k

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus' for the treatmentv of flue dust, and especiallyflue dust as delivered from a blast furnace or the like.

.5 -At the present time, in the operation of blast Any 'handling process to be effective, .must bev capable of not only destroying, or to'a large extent 'at least removing the contained heat, but

of effectingsuch heat removal under conditions such that dissemination orscattering of thev flue dust is prevented.

.It has heretofore been'proposed in the art to which-thepresent invention relates .totreat flue dust by delivering lthe same, for example, .from a suitable gasacleaner to a pug mill wherein water was 'added simultaneously with the agitation of the material. Experience has shown, however,

: that thevflue dustisA water'repellant. We believe that this condition is'due not only to the temperaturef of the nue' dust, vbut also possibly to the vfact that it is positively charged. with electricity under such conditions that there exists electricalrepulsion between the material and the water. `In any case, we have found that it is impossible'Y bythe merer act of agitation to effect aathorough` and uniform: intermixing of water and'flue dust. We have further found that the ability to effect such a mixture, and therefore uniform conditioning of theflue dust is dependent, at least. to va large extent, upon the amount of work performed on the dust either prior to or simultaneously with the additionof water..

We have also found that the 'most desirable conditions are obtained where the work perf ormedv is of such character as to maintain the flue dust in acondition'of suspension during the time at which-the water is added, whereby the water in. finely divided particles contacts with the ue dust whichV is also finely divided and held suspension. In this manner each particle 'offlue dust while substantially out of intimate contactwith other particles, is subjected to a water absorption or adsorption of suchnature that the yheat there- 1n 1s to the desired extent. ually moistened particles may conveyed to any desired point for subsequent use, treatment'or'disposal. v

Thereafter the individdestroyed andthe particle of dust'moistenedl be collected and (Cl. 259-25) e v In accordance with this invention, ritiscontemplated that one such method of disposal may comprise a sintering operation, the moisture content of the iiue dust being such that its fluid ow characteristics' are destroyed and the desired de-l gree of cohesion imparted thereto such that the flue dust may be readily maintained inv position on thesintering grates. r u y,

Itis therefore one ofthe objects of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus forthe handling of materials of the character re ferred to, and more especially todfluevdusueffective for performing the desired amount ofl work on the flue dust to make it susceptibley to the action of water, and to supply water thereto` while the liiue dust is maintained in such condi: tion of susceptibility. ,v u y In the accompanying drawings we have shown for purposes of illustration, a preferred yembodiment of the present invention. In the drawings-r,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through one form of apparatus constructed in" accordance with the present invention, certain: of the parts being illustrated in elevation; l Y

Figure 2 is a verticalsectionalview on the liney II-II of Figure 1; H

. Figure 3 is a view partlyy in plan, and partly in section, of the apparatus illustrated in ,FigureV 1, the portion in` section being alongjthe line III- III of Figure 1, lookingin-the direction of the arrows; Y .y j

Figure 4 is a detail plan view, of the `.throat plate utilized in accordance with the presentl invention; Y .v .i f.

Figure 5 is a similarv .view of the vthroat gate adapted yto be substituted for the throatplatel under conditions as hereinafter `described; andy Figure 6 is a detail view on an enlargedy scale of the poker rod and poker mounting.

In accordance with the present invention,

ure 2, is a feedingand measuring; chamber l communicating with the chamber -2Y through a.r

which extendsa shaft 3 carrying a'beater. or

in f spaced 2,' and .preferably agitator, as illustrated more particularly'in Fig-y relatively restricted opening 8 for insuring the delivery of material from the chamber 1 to the chamber 2 in the plane of rotation of the agitator 4. To this end the opening 8 is preferably of less effective width than the distance between the side plates 5.

Journaled in the chamber] is a shaft 9 carrying a conveying and measuring screw ID. Inasmuch as the amount of work performed on the material undergoing treatment should be substantially constant for a given quantity of such material, it is desirable to maintain at al1 times a predetermined speed relationship between the conveyor lil, constituting the measuring unit for the material delivered to the agitator, and the agitator itself. This may conveniently be accomplished by providing the shaft 9 with a drive connection II from the shaft 3, thedrive being herein illustrated as comprising a link belt roller drive. 'Ihe shaft 3 is in turn driven at any desired speed by a, motor i2 herein illustrated as operatively connected thereto by a flexible coupling I 4 through a speed reducer i5.

The motor I2 may be either a constant speed motor, under conditions wherein it is desired at alltimes to insure a constant predetermined rate of-feed,-.or may be a variable speed motor under conditions wherein it is desired to vary the rate of feed in accordance with the quantity of ymaterial to be treated. With such a construction, if

the speedv of the motor is increased, to thereby increase the rate of delivery of the material, it will be noted that the speed of the agitator is likewise increased in direct proportion, thereby maintaining at all times a condition of operation suchA that the quantity of work per unit of material undergoing treatment is `substantially constant.` f f 'l' Y Byl reference to'Figure 2, it will be noted that the agitator is rotatedV in the direction of the arrowk A, thereby subjecting the material falling through the opening 8 to a beating or agitating action in opposition to its gravity now. This operation tends to maintain the material in finely divided suspended form within the chamber 2 'and substantially uniformly distributed throughout the treatment zone therein, this zone comprising, principally, the space between the plates 5.

Extending into vand partly through lthe feeding chamber 1 is a Water pipe I6 terminating-in a sprayy head or nozzle l1 preferably having its outlet |8^disposed on the median line between the plates 5, whereby the spray I9 delivered from such head will be substantially symmetrically distributed on opposite sides of such line.A In this manner a uniform water quantity throughout the entiretreatment' zone between the plates 5 is insured, thus subjecting lthe uniformly distributed action.

In order to afford an opportunity for varying the vwaterl quantity in exact proportion to the quantity of material undergoing treatment, or other moisture content whichit is desired to impart thereto, or to the degree of heat abstraction which tis desired to effect, the lpipe I6 is 'conveniently provided with a control valve 20, affording ready means for such regulation.

While the iluid delivered through the pipe I6 may be obtained from any suitable source, we

the present time it vis necessary to subject such *sludge water to a'ltering operation in order to effect a separation of the water content thereof. In accordance with the present invention, such a filtering operation may be entirely dispensed with, inasmuch as the solid content of the sludge Water may be advantageously mixed with the material undergoing treatment in the chamber 2 andthe entire mixture thereby uniformly conditioned.

AlthoughV the use of a spray head of the character described gives an advantageous water distribution, we have found that We may, if desired, supply the water for treatment purposes by providing the shaft 3 with a series of uniformly arranged perforations 2|, treatment water being delivered to the shaft through a suitable connection 22. Such a construction, however, does not lend itself satisfactorily to the handling of fluids containing an appreciable solid content, inasmuch as such solids tend, by reason of centrifugal force set up by the rotation of the agitator, to pack theinside of the shaft.l With .cleanwaterl however, such a system of water supply may be utilized, the uniform arrangement of the openings, and the uniform head of water thereon, insuring uniformity of treatment of the material Within the chamber 2.

Where such a construction is utilized,we preferably extend the perforations .beyond the sides of the plates'to insure treatment ofv any particles within the side zones of the chamber. While all of the perforationsrmay be of the same size, it may be desirable in certain cases to make the perforations 23 which are outside of the platesv poking or agitatlng the same, such: .means beingv illustrated in detail in Figure 6 as comprising a ball mounting 25through which extends a poker 26. This construction permits the poker to be axially moved within itsniounting or to be universally moved in any direction for obtaining the desired action on the material vwitlnn the throat.

For controlling 4the flow of material from. the throat 24' into 'the chamber 1, there may be provided a suitable valve 21. having :a rotatable mounting 28 and-,operated by 'a sultablehandle 29. By means of this constructiomthe quantity of material delivered per unit of time to the;cham.

ber 1 may bevaried at the willof the operator while maintaining a, constant speed of `operation of the measuring device and of the agitator. In this manner, with materials which Vare found :to be more highly water repellant than others, or with' materials having a higher heat content, the quantity fed"ma'y,..if .desired, be reduced to thereby insure the .performance thereon of a greater quantity of work for obtaininga moreintimatemixing of the supplied water.. i i

During the normal `operation of the apparatus herein described, at' which time it is desired to permit a. relatively free flow of material through the throat 24, there is utilizedv in said throat a throat plate 30 as illustrated in detail in Figure 4,V

the throat' plate serving lto close. a side opening` 3| in the throat 24 Without obstructing; the down- 75 ward flow of material therethrough. When, however, it is desiredto repair or clean the apparatus, the throat plate may be removed, and a throat gate 32 illustrated in Figure 5 substituted therefor. In Figure 2 of the drawings the throat plate is illustrated as in position across the throat 24 for preventing the passage of material downwardly therethrough. This construction provides advantageous means for cutting off communication between the throat 24 and the remainder of the apparatus, whereby the remaining parts of the apparatus may be bodily removed or subjected to any other desired cleaning or repairing operation.

While we have herein illustrated and described certain preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that changes in the construction, relationship and operation of the parts may be made without departing either from the spirit of our invention or the scope of our claims.

We claim:

1. The method of handling hot blast furnace flue dust, which comprises separating the flue dust from the hot blast furnace gases, then feeding the collected dust to a closed agitating chamber and there throwing it into a dust-like gaseous susf pension and performing mechanical work on the thus-suspended flue dust while it remains in suspension to an extent suf'cient to destroy its water-repellant properties while spraying the thussuspended dust with water and until its water repellant properties are destroyed.

2. The method of handling hot blast furnace flue dust, which comprises separating the flue dust from the hot blast furnace gases, then feeding the collected dust to an agitating chamber and there subjecting it to violent agitation to bring it into a dust-like gaseous suspension, and spraying water through the flue dust while so suspended and until the suspended particles become sufciently heavy and wet to drop out of suspension.

3. The vmethod of handling furnace flue dust,

which comprises separating the flue dust from the furnace gases, then feeding the collected flue dust to an agitating chamber and there throwing it into a dust-like gaseous suspension, spraying water through the suspension, and violently beating the suspension while subjected to the water spray so as to destroy the water repellant properties of the flue dust particles and cause them to be wetted and fall from the suspension.

LOUIS C. EDGAR.

EDGAR E. BROSIUS. 

